Well not brand new, but you get the idea...
Behold!
The new P71 replacement:
It's a 2006 Mazda5! 5-Speed Manual, "Sport" package, power moonroof, factory roof rack, 17" 5-spoke alloys, and black cloth. It's a silvery-gold color that looks sweet in sunlight.
I can confirm that it will not only do a burnout (no TCS!!!), but it will chirp 2nd in the dry! 
New Toyo's on it as well.
The first mod definitely needs to be a shorter shifter, it's like driving a pickup!
i imagine this would look awesome slammed
It has a 5 speed???? Congratulations, as far as minivans go, that looks pretty sweet.
Good score -- if you can remove those roof racks you will get much better mielage. The Yakima racks on our P5 really cause a noticeable difference in economy. Even worse when we add the ski box.
Yeah, they're factory racks so they come off pretty easily. I'll be taking those off today. I definitely want to lower it and put on different wheels, these ones look like hell to clean.
The 5-speed really makes this thing fun to drive, it's basically a tall Mazda3.
Nice. Mazda makes such handsome designs.
Excellent choice, we love ours.
Admit it, it was the balloon that caused you to buy it :)
Nice
Javelin wrote: Yeah, they're factory racks so they come off pretty easily. I'll be taking those off today. I definitely want to lower it and put on different wheels, these ones look like hell to clean. The 5-speed really makes this thing fun to drive, it's basically a tall Mazda3.
I feel like I'm sitting up really tall in my 3.... Can't imagine the 5. Good buy, 2.3 liter?
It actually sits the same height, so while you feel "tall" in the 3, you feel "normal" in the 5. 2.3L that scoots pretty well! It would flat-out destroy my Miata in a drag race. It has Proxes T1R's on it, too so it might even hold up on the AX course.
Got is for $9500 out the door 
Javelin wrote: It actually sits the same height, so while you feel "tall" in the 3, you feel "normal" in the 5. 2.3L that scoots pretty well! It would flat-out destroy my Miata in a drag race. It has Proxes T1R's on it, too so it might even hold up on the AX course. Got is for $9500 out the door
a used Mazda5 came with T1R's??
Javelin wrote: It has Proxes T1R's on it, too so it might even hold up on the AX course.
Those ain't cheap tires, a high quality (in my books) performance touring tire. Very nice characteristics with lots of grip.
Congrats on the purchase, looks like fun 
Yup, it was a 1-owner car, and you can tell it was someone who cared! Synthetic oil change sticker (with an actual 5K interval, and on the 5/10 miles), nearly new T1R's, and all the manuals still in the glovebox. Very happy so far!
Well done!
All that shopping and you ended up with a FWD minivan? Weird.
Bryce
Considering just about everything I was looking at was a FWD wagon, how so? It's just a tall wagon with slider doors.
Park the 5 next to a "real" minivan, and it's not really the same. Odysseys and Siennas are huge compared to the 5. It's more like a big Fit.
I considered a 5 more like a much newer, nicer version of the original Caravan. They are FWD, about the same weight, manual trans, sliding door, share platforms with smaller cars, wish they had a turbo...oh, wait...the Caravan did get a turbo, so it wins! Really, I'm sure the Mazda5 handles fairly well and I'm glad to see Mazda still offering a manual trans on most of their cars, but the 5 is a minivan. If a tall, FWD wagon with slider doors isn't a minivan, I don't know what the hell is...I mean, isn't that what the Caravan was? The 5 might be a small minivan, but it's still a minivan.
I thought you were cross shopping WRX wagons as your number 1 option originally. That's why I'm miffed where the 5 came in as it's 63% less fun to drive and 92% uglier than a WRX wagon (Did you know 80% of statistics are made up?).
Bryce
In reply to Nashco:
they even offer the mazda tribute in FWD manual configuration.
In reply to Nashco:
I don't care that it's technically a minivan. It's fun to drive, hauls a crapload of stuff, and meets all the needs I wanted in a DD. Yeah, a WRX would have been nice, but they are significantly smaller inside, have much higher insurance, and all I could find were total crapboxes that were totalled out, questionably modified, or had 200K+ miles on them. That was also my only AWD option (besides the identical Saabaru and the slightly larger but still the same car Legacy wagon). My other choices were the Mazda3, Mazda6, Protege5, and other such sundry FWD wagon/hatchback things.
All I know is I got a 1-owner, 70K mile car for under $10K that has a manual trans and is a call to Tire Rack away from Koni Sports and H&R's that once installed will probably let it out-handle 80% of the cars at the local autocross 
That's no minivan...THIS is a minivan.
It seems all the folks I know who have a Mazda 5 love them, but I dunno if I can see it out handling 80% of the cars at a local autocross...unless you're very very awesome or they're very very bad. (Either of which is possible.)
Bottom line- drive what fits your needs. I wish I could talk my wife into liking a Mazda 5, but she's not into them.
Tom Heath wrote: That's no minivan...THIS is a minivan.
If I could get any 2011 minivan for less than 10K I would be there!!!!
I have never looked at the 5. I see a trip to the Mazda dealer in my future.
I'll have to see if I can find the pics again but 18" RX8 wheels look awesome on a 5! After todays denver snow I think my wife believes snow tires are a good idea and agrees we need a summer and winter set of wheels. woohoo! When we bought our 5 my wife had said she would never drive a minivan or a red car now she has both, of course our oh so clever auto broker quickly replied "it's a maroon sports wagon"
I can't find a Mazda5-specific short shifter. I found this short-shift plate:
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123772943-06-2010-MAZDA-5-Short-Shift-Plate-Kits-In-Stock!!
That is a very nice-looking wagon-hatch-van-thingie BTW. Congrats on the purchase!
I saw that plate, too. Looks interesting. Maybe combined with a regular 3 stick it would work great.
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